R O M A N S.

CHAP. I.

In this chapter we may observe, I. The preface and
introduction to the whole epistle, to ver. 16. II. A description of the deplorable
condition of the Gentile world, which begins the proof of the
doctrine of justification by faith, here laid down at ver. 17. The first is according to the
then usual formality of a letter, but intermixed with very
excellent and savoury expressions.

The Apostle's Commission. (a.
d. 58.)

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to
be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2
(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy
scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to
the faith among all nations, for his name: 6 Among whom are
ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 7 To all that be in
Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and
peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this paragraph we have,

I. The person who writes the epistle
described (v. 1):
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ; this is his title of
honour, which he glories in, not as the Jewish teachers, Rabbi,
Rabbi; but a servant, a more immediate attendant, a steward in
the house. Called to be an apostle. Some think he alludes to
his old name Saul, which signifies one called for, or
enquired after: Christ sought him to make an apostle of him,
Acts ix. 15. He here builds
his authority upon his call; he did not run without sending, as the
false apostles did; kletos apostolos—called an
apostle, as if this were the name he would be called by, though
he acknowledged himself not meet to be called so, 1 Cor. xv. 9. Separated to the
gospel of God. The Pharisees had their name from separation,
because they separated themselves to the study of the law,
and might be called aphorismenoi eis ton nomon; such
a one Paul had formerly been; but now he had changed his studies,
was aphorismenos eis to Euangelion, a gospel
Pharisee, separated by the counsel of God (Gal. i. 15), separated from his mother's
womb, by an immediate direction of the Spirit, and a regular
ordination according to that direction (Acts xiii. 2, 3), by a dedication of himself
to this work. He was an entire devotee to the gospel of God, the
gospel which has God for its author, the origin and extraction of
it divine and heavenly.

II. Having mentioned the gospel of God, he
digresses, to give us an encomium of it.

1. The antiquity of it. It was promised
before (v. 2); it
was no novel upstart doctrine, but of ancient standing in the
promises and prophecies of the old Testament, which did all
unanimously point at the gospel, the morning-beams that ushered in
the sun of righteousness; this not by word of mouth only, but in
the scriptures.

2. The subject-matter of it: it is
concerning Christ, v. 3,
4. The prophets and apostles all bear witness to him; he
is the true treasure hid in the field of the scriptures. Observe,
When Paul mentions Christ, how he heaps up his names and titles,
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, as one that took a pleasure
in speaking of him; and, having mentioned him, he cannot go on in
his discourse without some expression of love and honour, as here,
where in one person he shows us his two distinct natures. (1.) His
human nature: Made of the seed of David (v. 3), that is, born of the virgin Mary,
who was of the house of David (Luke i.
27), as was Joseph his supposed father, Luke ii. 4. David is here mentioned,
because of the special promises made to him concerning the Messiah,
especially his kingly office; 2 Sam. vii. 12; Ps. cxxxii. 11,
compared with Luke i. 32, 33. (2.) His divine nature:
Declared to be the Son of God (v. 4), the Son of God by eternal
generation, or, as it is here explained, according to the Spirit
of holiness. According to the flesh, that is, his human nature,
he was of the seed of David; but, according to the Spirit
of holiness, that is, the divine nature (as he is said to be
quickened by the Spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 18, compared with 2 Cor. xiii.
4), he is the Son of God. The great proof or
demonstration of this is his resurrection from the dead,
which proved it effectually and undeniably. The sign of the prophet
Jonas, Christ's resurrection, was intended for the last conviction,
Matt. xii. 39, 40. Those
that would not be convinced by that would be convinced by nothing.
So that we have here a summary of the gospel doctrine concerning
Christ's two natures in one person.

3. The fruit of it (v. 5); By whom, that is, by
Christ manifested and made known in the gospel, we (Paul and
the rest of the ministers) have received grace and
apostleship, that is, the favour to be made apostles, Eph. iii. 8. The apostles were made a
spectacle to the world, led a life of toil, and trouble, and
hazard, were killed all the day long, and yet Paul reckons
the apostleship a favour: we may justly reckon it a great favour to
be employed in any work or service for God, whatever difficulties
or dangers we may meet with in it. This apostleship was received
for obedience to the faith, that is, to bring people to that
obedience; as Christ, so his ministers, received that they might
give. Paul's was for this obedience among all nations, for
he was the apostle of the Gentiles, ch. xi. 13. Observe the description
here given of the Christian profession: it is obedience to the
faith. It does not consist in a notional knowledge or a naked
assent, much less does it consist in perverse disputings, but in
obedience. This obedience to the faith answers the law of
faith, mentioned ch. iii.
27. The act of faith is the obedience of the
understanding to God revealing, and the product of that is the
obedience of the will to God commanding. To anticipate the ill use
which might be made of the doctrine of justification by faith
without the works of the law, which he was to explain in the
following epistle, he here speaks of Christianity as an obedience.
Christ has a yoke. "Among whom are you, v. 6. You Romans in this stand upon the
same level with other Gentile nations of less fame and wealth; you
are all one in Christ." The gospel salvation is a common salvation,
Jude 3. No respect of
persons with God. The called of Jesus Christ; all those, and
those only, are brought to an obedience of the faith that are
effectually called of Jesus Christ.

III. The persons to whom it is written
(v. 7): To all that
are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints; that is, to
all the professing Christians that were in Rome, whether Jews or
Gentiles originally, whether high or low, bond or free, learned or
unlearned. Rich and poor meet together in Christ Jesus. Here is, 1.
The privilege of Christians: They are beloved of God, they
are members of that body which is beloved, which is God's
Hephzibah, in which his delight is. We speak of God's love
by his bounty and beneficence, and so he hath a common love to all
mankind and a peculiar love for true believers; and between these
there is a love he hath for all the body of visible Christians. 2.
The duty of Christians; and that is to be holy, for hereunto are
they called, called to be saints, called to salvation
through sanctification. Saints, and only saints, are beloved of God
with a special and peculiar love. Kletois
hagiois—called saints, saints in profession; it
were well if all that are called saints were saints indeed. Those
that are called saints should labour to answer to the name;
otherwise, though it is an honour and a privilege, yet it will be
of little avail at the great day to have been called saints, if we
be not really so.

IV. The apostolical benediction (v. 7): Grace to you and
peace. This is one of the tokens in every epistle; and it hath
not only the affection of a good wish, but the authority of a
blessing. The priests under the law were to bless the people, and
so are gospel ministers, in the name of the Lord. In this usual
benediction observe, 1. The favours desired: Grace and
peace. The Old-Testament salutation was, Peace be to
you; but now grace is prefixed—grace, that is, the
favour of God towards us or the work of God in us; both are
previously requisite to true peace. All gospel blessings are
included in these two: grace and peace. Peace, that is all
good; peace with God, peace in your own consciences, peace with all
that are about you; all these founded in grace. 2. The fountain of
those favours, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ. All good comes, (1.) From God as a Father; he hath put
himself into that relation to engage and encourage our desires and
expectations; we are taught, when we come for grace and peace, to
call him our Father. (2.) From the Lord Jesus Christ, as
Mediator, and the great feoffee in trust for the conveying and
securing of these benefits. We have them from his fulness, peace
from the fulness of his merit, grace from the fulness of his
Spirit.

Paul's Love to the Roman
Christians. (a.
d. 58.)

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the
gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you
always in my prayers; 10 Making request, if by any means now
at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to
come unto you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart
unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the
mutual faith both of you and me. 13 Now I would not have you
ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you,
(but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you
also, even as among other Gentiles. 14 I am debtor both to
the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the
unwise. 15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at Rome also.

We may here observe,

I. His thanksgivings for them (v. 8): First, I thank my
God. It is good to begin every thing with blessing God, to make
that the alpha and omega of every song, in every thing to
give thanks.—My God. He speaks this with delight and
triumph. In all our thanksgivings, it is good for us to eye God as
our God; this makes every mercy sweet, when we can say of God, "He
is mine in covenant."—Through Jesus Christ. All our duties
and performances are pleasing to God only through Jesus Christ,
praises as well as prayers.—For you all. We must express
our love to our friends, not only by praying for them, but by
praising God for them. God must have the glory of all the comfort
we have in our friends; for every creature is that to us, and no
more, which God makes it to be. Many of these Romans Paul had no
personal acquaintance with, and yet he could heartily rejoice in
their gifts and graces. When some of the Roman Christians met him
(Acts xxviii. 15), he
thanked God for them, and took courage; but here his true catholic
love extends itself further, and he thanks God for them all;
not only for those among them that were his helpers in Christ, and
that bestowed much labour upon him (of whom he speaks ch. xvi. 3, 6), but for them
all.—That your faith is spoken of. Paul travelled up and
down from place to place, and, wherever he came, he heard great
commendations of the Christians at Rome, which he mentions, not to
make them proud, but to quicken them to answer the general
character people gave of them, and the general expectation people
had from them. The greater reputation a man hath for religion, the
more careful he should be to preserve it, because a little folly
spoils him that is in reputation, Eccl. x. 1.—Throughout the whole
world, that is, the Roman empire, into which the Roman
Christians, upon Claudius's edict to banish all the Jews from Rome,
were scattered abroad, but had now returned, and, it seems, left a
very good report behind them, wherever they had been, in all the
churches. There was this good effect of their sufferings: if they
had not been persecuted, they had not been famous. This was indeed
a good name, a name for good things with God and good people. As
the elders of old, so these Romans, obtained a good report
through faith, Heb. xi.
2. It is a desirable thing to be famous for faith. The
faith of the Roman Christians came to be thus talked of, not only
because it was excelling in itself, but because it was eminent and
observable in its circumstances. Rome was a city upon a hill, every
one took notice of what was done there. Thus those who have many
eyes upon them have need to walk circumspectly, for what they do,
good or bad, will be spoken of. The church of Rome was then a
flourishing church; but since that time how is the gold become dim!
How is the most fine gold changed! Rome is not what it was. She was
then espoused a chaste virgin to Christ, and excelled in
beauty; but she has since degenerated, dealt treacherously, and
embraced the bosom of a stranger; so that (as that good old
book, the Practice of Piety, makes appear in no less than
twenty-six instances) even the epistle to the Romans is now
an epistle against the Romans; little reason has she
therefore to boast of her former credit.

II. His prayer for them, v. 9. Though a famous flourishing
church, yet they had need to be prayed for; they had not yet
attained. Paul mentions this as an instance of his love to
them. One of the greatest kindnesses we can do our friends, and
sometimes the only kindness that is in the power of our hands, is,
by prayer to recommend them to the loving-kindness of God. From
Paul's example here we may learn, 1. Constancy in prayer: Always
without ceasing. He did himself observe the same rules he gave
to others, Eph. vi. 18; 1
Thess. v. 17. Not that Paul did nothing else but pray,
but he kept up stated times for the solemn performance of that
duty, and those very frequent, and observed without fail. 2.
Charity in prayer: I make mention of you. Though he had not
particular acquaintance with them, nor interest in them, yet he
prayed for them; not only for all saints in general, but he made
express mention of them. It is not unfit sometimes to be express in
our prayers for particular churches and places; not to inform God,
but to affect ourselves. We are likely to have the most comfort in
those friends that we pray most for. Concerning this he makes a
solemn appeal to the searcher of hearts: For God is my
witness. It was in a weighty matter, and in a thing known only
to God and his own heart, that he used this asseveration. It is
very comfortable to be able to call God to witness to our sincerity
and constancy in the discharge of a duty. God is particularly a
witness to our secret prayers, the matter of them, the manner of
the performance; then our Father sees in secret, Matt. vi. 6. God, whom I serve with my
spirit. Those that serve God with their spirits may, with a
humble confidence, appeal to him; hypocrites who rest in bodily
exercise cannot. His particular prayer, among many other petitions
he put up for them, was that he might have an opportunity of paying
them a visit (v. 10):
Making request, if by any means, &c. Whatever comfort we
desire to find in any creature, we must have recourse to God for it
by prayer; for our times are in his hand, and all our ways
at his disposal. The expressions here used intimate that he was
very desirous of such an opportunity: if by any means; that
he had long and often been disappointed: now at length; and
yet that he submitted it to the divine Providence: a prosperous
journey by the will of God. As in our purposes, so in our
desires, we must still remember to insert this, if the Lord
will, James iv. 15. Our
journeys are prosperous or otherwise according to the will of God,
comfortable or not as he pleases.

III. His great desire to see them, with the
reasons of it, v.
11-15. He had heard so much of them that he had a great
desire to be better acquainted with them. Fruitful Christians are
as much the joy as barren professors are the grief of faithful
ministers. Accordingly, he often purposed to come, but was let
hitherto (v. 13),
for man purposeth, but God disposeth. He was hindered by other
business that took him off, by his care of other churches, whose
affairs were pressing; and Paul was for doing that first, not which
was most pleasant (then he would have gone to Rome), but which was
most needful—a good example to ministers, who must not consult
their own inclinations so much as the necessity of their people's
souls. Paul desired to visit these Romans,

1. That they might be edified (v. 11): That I may impart
unto you. He received, that he might communicate. Never were
full breasts so desirous to be drawn out to the sucking infant as
Paul's head and heart were to be imparting spiritual gifts, that
is, preaching to them. A good sermon is a good gift, so much the
better for being a spiritual gift.—To the end you may be
established. Having commended their flourishing he here
expresses his desire of their establishment, that as they grew
upward in the branches they might grow downward in the root. The
best saints, while they are in such a shaking world as this, have
need to be more and more established; and spiritual gifts are of
special use for our establishment.

2. That he might be comforted, v. 12. What he heard of their
flourishing in grace was so much a joy to him that it must needs be
much more so to behold it. Paul could take comfort in the fruit of
the labours of other ministers.—By the mutual faith both of you
and me, that is, our mutual faithfulness and fidelity. It is
very comfortable when there is a mutual confidence between minister
and people, they confiding in him as a faithful minister, and he in
them as a faithful people. Or, the mutual work of faith, which is
love; they rejoiced in the expressions of one another's love, or
communicating their faith one to another. It is very refreshing to
Christians to compare notes about their spiritual concerns; thus
are they sharpened, as iron sharpens iron.—That I might have
some fruit, v.
13. Their edification would be his advantage, it would
be fruit abounding to a good account. Paul minded his work, as one
that believed the more good he did the greater would his reward
be.

3. That he might discharge his trust as the
apostle of the Gentiles (v.
14): I am a debtor. (1.) His receivings made him
a debtor; for they were talents he was entrusted with to trade for
his Master's honour. We should think of this when we covet great
things, that all our receivings put us in debt; we are but stewards
of our Lord's goods. (2.) His office made him a debtor. He was a
debtor as he was an apostle; he was called and sent to work, and
had engaged to mind it. Paul had improved his talent, and laboured
in his work, and done as much good as ever any man did, and yet, in
reflection upon it, he still writes himself debtor; for, when we
have done all, we are but unprofitable servants.—Debtor to the
Greeks, and to the barbarians, that is, as the following words
explain it, to the wise and to the unwise. The Greeks
fancied themselves to have the monopoly of wisdom, and looked upon
all the rest of the world as barbarians, comparatively so; not
cultivated with learning and arts as they were. Now Paul was a
debtor to both, looked upon himself as obliged to do all the good
he could both to the one and to the other. Accordingly, we find him
paying his debt, both in his preaching and in his writing, doing
good both to Greeks and barbarians, and suiting his
discourse to the capacity of each. You may observe a difference
between his sermon at Lystra among the plain Lycaonians (Acts xiv. 15, &c.) and his sermon
at Athens among the polite philosophers, Acts xvii. 22, &c. He delivered both as
debtor to each, giving to each their portion. Though a plain
preacher, yet, as debtor to the wise, he speaks wisdom among those
that are perfect, 1 Cor. ii.
6. For these reasons he was ready, if he had an
opportunity, to preach the gospel at Rome, v. 15. Though a public place,
though a perilous place, where Christianity met with a great deal
of opposition, yet Paul was ready to run the risk at Rome, if
called to it: I am ready—prothymon. It
denotes a great readiness of mind, and that he was very forward to
it. What he did was not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. It
is an excellent thing to be ready to meet every opportunity of
doing or getting good.

Paul's Discourse on
Justification. (a.
d. 58.)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:
as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Paul here enters upon a large discourse of
justification, in the latter part of this chapter laying down his
thesis, and, in order to the proof of it, describing the deplorable
condition of the Gentile world. His transition is very handsome,
and like an orator: he was ready to preach the gospel at Rome,
though a place where the gospel was run down by those that called
themselves the wits; for, saith he, I am not ashamed of
it, v. 16. There
is a great deal in the gospel which such a man as Paul might be
tempted to be ashamed of, especially that he whose gospel it is was
a man hanged upon a tree, that the doctrine of it was plain, had
little in it to set it off among scholars, the professors of it
were mean and despised, and every where spoken against; yet Paul
was not ashamed to own it. I reckon him a Christian indeed that is
neither ashamed of the gospel nor a shame to it. The reason of this
bold profession, taken from the nature and excellency of the
gospel, introduces his dissertation.

I. The proposition, v. 16, 17. The excellency of the
gospel lies in this, that it reveals to us,

1. The salvation of believers as the end:
It is the power of God unto salvation. Paul is not ashamed
of the gospel, how mean and contemptible soever it may appear to a
carnal eye; for the power of God works by it the salvation of
all that believe; it shows us the way of salvation
(Acts xvi. 17), and is the
great charter by which salvation is conveyed and made over to us.
But, (1.) It is through the power of God; without that power
the gospel is but a dead letter; the revelation of the gospel is
the revelation of the arm of the Lord (Isa. liii. 1), as power went along with the
word of Christ to heal diseases. (2.) It is to those, and those
only, that believe. Believing interests us in the gospel salvation;
to others it is hidden. The medicine prepared will not cure the
patient if it be not taken.—To the Jew first. The lost sheep of
the house of Israel had the first offer made them, both by
Christ and his apostles. You first (Acts iii. 26), but upon their refusal the
apostles turned to the Gentiles, Acts
xiii. 46. Jews and Gentiles now stand upon the same
level, both equally miserable without a Saviour, and both equally
welcome to the Saviour, Col. iii.
11. Such doctrine as this was surprising to the Jews,
who had hitherto been the peculiar people, and had looked with
scorn upon the Gentile world; but the long-expected Messiah proves
a light to enlighten the Gentiles, as well as the glory
of his people Israel.

2. The justification of believers as the
way (v. 17): For
therein, that is, in this gospel, which Paul so much triumphs
in, is the righteousness of God revealed. Our misery and
ruin being the product and consequent of our iniquity, that which
will show us the way of salvation must needs show us the way of
justification, and this the gospel does. The gospel makes known a
righteousness. While God is a just and holy God, and we are guilty
sinners, it is necessary we should have a righteousness wherein to
appear before him; and, blessed be God, there is such a
righteousness brought in by Messiah the prince (Dan. ix. 24) and revealed in the
gospel; a righteousness, that is, a gracious method of
reconciliation and acceptance, notwithstanding the guilt of our
sins. This evangelical righteousness, (1.) Is called the
righteousness of God; it is of God's appointing, of God's
approving and accepting. It is so called to cut off all pretensions
to a righteousness resulting from the merit of our own works. It is
the righteousness of Christ, who is God, resulting from a
satisfaction of infinite value. (2.) It is said to be from faith
to faith, from the faithfulness of God revealing to the faith
of man receiving (so some); from the faith of dependence upon God,
and dealing with him immediately, as Adam before the fall, to the
faith of dependence upon a Mediator, and so dealing with God (so
others); from the first faith, by which we are put into a justified
state, to after faith, by which we live, and are continued in that
state: and the faith that justifies us is no less than our taking
Christ for our Saviour, and becoming true Christians, according to
the tenour of the baptismal covenant; from faith engrafting us into
Christ, to faith deriving virtue from him as our root: both implied
in the next words, The just shall live by faith. Just by
faith, there is faith justifying us; live by faith,
there is faith maintaining us; and so there is a righteousness
from faith to faith. Faith is all in all, both in the beginning
and progress of a Christian life. It is not from faith to works, as
if faith put us into a justified state, and then works preserved
and maintained us in it, but it is all along from faith to faith,
as 2 Cor. iii. 18, from
glory to glory; it is increasing, continuing, persevering
faith, faith pressing forward, and getting ground of unbelief. To
show that this is no novel upstart doctrine, he quotes for it that
famous scripture in the Old Testament, so often mentioned in the
New (Hab. ii. 4): The
just shall live by faith. Being justified by faith he shall
live by it both the life of grace and of glory. The prophet there
had placed himself upon the watch-tower, expecting some
extraordinary discoveries (v.
1), and the discovery was of the certainty of the
appearance of the promised Messiah in the fulness of time, not
withstanding seeming delays. This is there called the
vision, by way of eminence, as elsewhere the promise;
and while that time is coming, as well as when it has come, the
just shall live by faith. Thus is the evangelical righteousness
from faith to faith—from Old-Testament faith in a Christ to come
to New-Testament faith in a Christ already come.

II. The proof of this proposition, that
both Jews and Gentiles stand in need of a righteousness wherein to
appear before God, and that neither the one nor the other have nay
of their own to plead. Justification must be either by faith or
works. It cannot be by works, which he proves at large by
describing the works both of Jews and Gentiles; and therefore he
concludes it must be by faith, ch. iii. 20, 28. The apostle, like a
skilful surgeon, before he applies the plaster, searches the
wound—endeavours first to convince of guilt and wrath, and then to
show the way of salvation. This makes the gospel the more welcome.
We must first see the righteousness of God condemning, and then the
righteousness of God justifying will appear worthy of all
acceptation. In general (v.
18), the wrath of God is revealed. The light of
nature and the light of the law reveal the wrath of God from sin to
sin. It is well for us that the gospel reveals the justifying
righteousness of God from faith to faith. The antithesis is
observable. Here is,

1. The sinfulness of man described; he
reduceth it to two heads, ungodliness and unrighteousness;
ungodliness against the laws of the first table, unrighteousness
against those of the second.

2. The cause of that sinfulness, and that
is, holding the truth in unrighteousness. Some communes
notitæ, some ideas they had of the being of God, and of the
difference of good and evil; but they held them in unrighteousness,
that is, they knew and professed them in a consistency with their
wicked courses. They held the truth as a captive or prisoner, that
it should not influence them, as otherwise it would. An unrighteous
wicked heart is the dungeon in which many a good truth is detained
and buried. Holding fast the form of sound words in faith and
love is the root of all religion (2 Tim. i. 13), but holding it fast in
unrighteousness is the root of all sin.

3. The displeasure of God against it:
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven; not only in the
written word, which is given by inspiration of God (the
Gentiles had not that), but in the providences of God, his
judgments executed upon sinners, which do not spring out of the
dust, or fall out by chance, nor are they to be ascribed to second
causes, but they are a revelation from heaven. Or wrath from
heaven is revealed; it is not the wrath of a man like
ourselves, but wrath from heaven, therefore the more
terrible and the more unavoidable.

The Excellency of the
Gospel. (a.
d. 58.)

19 Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without
excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And
changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and
creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour
their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For
this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that
recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors
of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without
understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do
the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

In this last part of the chapter the
apostle applies what he had said particularly to the Gentile world,
in which we may observe,

I. The means and helps they had to come to
the knowledge of God. Though they had not such a knowledge of his
law as Jacob and Israel had (Ps.
cxlvii. 20), yet among them he left not himself
without witness (Acts xiv.
17): For that which may be known, &c.,
v. 19, 20.
Observe,

1. What discoveries they had: That which
may be known of God is manifest, en
autois—among them; that is, there were some even
among them that had the knowledge of God, were convinced of the
existence of one supreme Numen. The philosophy of
Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics, discovered a great deal of the
knowledge of God, as appears by abundance of testimonies. That
which may be known, which implies that there is a great deal
which may not be known. The being of God may be apprehended, but
cannot be comprehended. We cannot by searching find him out,
Job xi. 7-9. Finite
understandings cannot perfectly know an infinite being; but,
blessed be God, there is that which may be known, enough to lead us
to our chief end, the glorifying and enjoying of him; and these
things revealed belong to us and to our children, while secret
things are not to be pried into, Deut.
xxix. 29.

2. Whence they had these discoveries:
God hath shown it to them. Those common natural notions
which they had of God were imprinted upon their hearts by the God
of nature himself, who is the Father of lights. This sense
of a Deity, and a regard to that Deity, are so connate with the
human nature that some think we are to distinguish men from brutes
by these rather than by reason.

3. By what way and means these discoveries
and notices which they had were confirmed and improved, namely, by
the work of creation (v.
20); For the invisible things of God, &c.

(1.) Observe what they knew: The
invisible things of him, even his eternal power and Godhead.
Though God be not the object of sense, yet he hath discovered and
made known himself by those things that are sensible. The power and
Godhead of God are invisible things, and yet are clearly seen in
their products. He works in secret (Job xxiii. 8, 9; Ps. cxxxix. 15;
Eccl. xi. 5), but manifests what he has wrought, and
therein makes known his power and Godhead, and others of his
attributes which natural light apprehends in the idea of a God.
They could not come by natural light to the knowledge of the three
persons in the Godhead (though some fancy they have found footsteps
of this in Plato's writings), but they did come to the knowledge of
the Godhead, at least so much knowledge as was sufficient to have
kept them from idolatry. This was that truth which they held in
unrighteousness.

(2.) How they knew it: By the things
that are made, which could not make themselves, nor fall into
such an exact order and harmony by any casual hits; and therefore
must have been produced by some first cause or intelligent agent,
which first cause could be no other than an eternal powerful God.
See Ps. xix. 1; Isa.
xl. 26; Acts xvii. 24. The workman is known by his work.
The variety, multitude, order, beauty, harmony, different nature,
and excellent contrivance, of the things that are made, the
direction of them to certain ends, and the concurrence of all the
parts to the good and beauty of the whole, do abundantly prove a
Creator and his eternal power and Godhead. Thus did the light shine
in the darkness. And this from the creation of the world.
Understand it either, [1.] As the topic from which the knowledge of
them is drawn. To evince this truth, we have recourse to the great
work of creation. And some think this ktisis kosmou,this creature of the world (as it may be read), is to be
understood of man, the ktisis kat exochen—the
most remarkable creature of the lower world, called
ktisis,Mark xvi.
15. The frame and structure of human bodies, and
especially the most excellent powers, faculties, and capacities of
human souls, do abundantly prove that there is a Creator, and that
he is God. Or, [2.] As the date of the discovery. It as old as the
creation of the world. In this sense apo ktiseos is
most frequently used in scripture. These notices concerning God are
not any modern discoveries, hit upon of late, but ancient truths,
which were from the beginning. The way of the acknowledgement of
God is a good old way; it was from the beginning. Truth got the
start of error.

II. Their gross idolatry, notwithstanding
these discoveries that God made to them of himself; described here,
v. 21-23, 25.
We shall the less wonder at the inefficacy of these natural
discoveries to prevent the idolatry of the Gentiles if we remember
how prone even the Jews, who had scripture light to guide them,
were to idolatry; so miserably are the degenerate sons of men
plunged in the mire of sense. Observe,

1. The inward cause of their idolatry,
v. 21, 22. They
are therefore without excuse, in that they did know God, and from
what they knew might easily infer that it was their duty to worship
him, and him only. Though some have greater light and means of
knowledge than others, yet all have enough to leave them
inexcusable. But the mischief of it was that, (1.) They
glorified him not as God. Their affections towards him, and
their awe and adoration of him, did not keep pace with their
knowledge. To glorify him as God is to glorify him only; for there
can be but one infinite: but they did not so glorify him, for they
set up a multitude of other deities. To glorify him as God is to
worship him with spiritual worship; but they made images of him.
Not to glorify God as God is in effect not to glorify him at all;
to respect him as a creature is not to glorify him, but to
dishonour him. (2.) Neither were they thankful; not thankful
for the favours in general they received from God (insensibleness
of God's mercies is at the bottom of our sinful departures from
him); not thankful in particular for the discoveries God was
pleased to make of himself to them. Those that do not improve the
means of knowledge and grace are justly reckoned unthankful for
them. (3.) But they became vain in their imaginations,en tois dialogismois—in their reasonings, in
their practical inferences. They had a great deal of knowledge of
general truths (v.
19), but no prudence to apply them to particular cases.
Or, in their notions of God, and the creation of the world, and the
origination of mankind, and the chief good; in these things, when
they quitted the plain truth, they soon disputed themselves into a
thousand vain and foolish fancies. The several opinions and
hypotheses of the various sects of philosophers concerning these
things were so many vain imaginations. When truth is forsaken,
errors multiply in infinitum—infinitely. (4.) And
their foolish heart was darkened. The foolishness and practical
wickedness of the heart cloud and darken the intellectual powers
and faculties. Nothing tends more to the blinding and perverting of
the understanding than the corruption and depravedness of the will
and affections. (5.) Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools, v.
22. This looks black upon the philosophers, the
pretenders to wisdom and professors of it. Those that had the most
luxuriant fancy, in framing to themselves the idea of a God, fell
into the most gross and absurd conceits: and it was the just
punishment of their pride and self-conceitedness. It has been
observed that the most refined nations, that made the greatest show
of wisdom, were the arrantest fools in religion. The barbarians
adored the sun and moon, which of all others was the most specious
idolatry; while the learned Egyptians worshipped an ox and an
onion. The Grecians, who excelled them in wisdom, adored diseases
and human passions. The Romans, the wisest of all, worshipped the
furies. And at this day the poor Americans worship the thunder;
while the ingenious Chinese adore the devil. Thus the world by
wisdom knew not God, 1 Cor. i.
21. As a profession of wisdom is an aggravation of
folly, so a proud conceit of wisdom is the cause of a great deal of
folly. Hence we read of few philosophers who were converted to
Christianity; and Paul's preaching was no where so laughed at and
ridiculed as among the learned Athenians, Acts xvii. 18-32. Phaskontes
einai—conceiting themselves to be wise. The plain
truth of the being of God would not content them; they thought
themselves above that, and so fell into the greatest errors.

2. The outward acts of their idolatry,
v. 23-25. (1.)
Making images of God (v.
23), by which, as much as in them lay, they changed
the glory of the incorruptible God. Compare Ps. cvi. 20; Jer. ii. 11. They
ascribed a deity to the most contemptible creatures, and by them
represented God. It was the greatest honour God did to man that he
made man in the image of God; but it is the greatest dishonour man
has done to God that he has made God in the image of man. This was
what God so strictly warned the Jews against, Deut. iv. 15, &c. This the apostle shows
the folly of in his sermon at Athens, Acts xvii. 29. See Isa. xl. 18, &c.; xliv. 10,
&c. This is called (v.
25) changing the truth of God into a lie. As it
did dishonour his glory, so it did misrepresent his being. Idols
are called lies, for they belie God, as if he had a body, whereas
he is a Spirit, Jer. xxiii.
14; Hos. vii. 1. Teachers of lies, Hab. ii. 18. (2.) Giving divine
honour to the creature: Worshipped and served the creature,para ton ktisavta—besides the Creator. They
did own a supreme Numen in their profession, but they did in
effect disown him by the worship they paid to the creature; for God
will be all or none. Or, above the Creator, paying more
devout respect to their inferior deities, stars, heroes, demons,
thinking the supreme God inaccessible, or above their worship. The
sin itself was their worshipping the creature at all; but this is
mentioned as an aggravation of the sin, that they worshipped the
creature more than the Creator. This was the general wickedness of
the Gentile world, and became twisted in with their laws and
government; in compliance with which even the wise men among them,
who knew and owned a supreme God and were convinced of the nonsense
and absurdity of their polytheism and idolatry, yet did as the rest
of their neighbours did. Seneca, in his book De
Superstitione, as it is quoted by Aug. de Civit. Dei,
lib. 6, cap. 10 (for the book itself is lost), after he had largely
shown the great folly and impiety of the vulgar religion, in divers
instances of it, yet concludes, Quæ omnia sapiens servabit
tanquam legibus jussa, non tanquam diis grata—All which a wise man
will observe as established by law, not imagining them grateful to
the gods. And afterwards, Omnem istam ignobilem deorum
turbam, quam longo ævo longa superstitio congessit, sic adorabimus,
ut meminerimus cultum ejus magis ad morem quam ad rem
pertinere—All this ignoble rout of gods, which ancient
superstition has amassed together by long prescription, we will so
adore as to remember that the worship of them is rather a
compliance with custom than material in itself. Upon which
Augustine observes, Coleb at quod reprehendebat, agebat quod
arguebat, quod culpabat adorabat—He worshipped that which he
censured, he did that which he had proved wrong, and he adored what
he found fault with. I mention this thus largely because
methinks it doth fully explain that of the apostle here (v. 18): Who hold the truth
in unrighteousness. It is observable that upon the mention of
the dishonour done to God by the idolatry of the Gentiles the
apostle, in the midst of his discourse, expresses himself in an
awful adoration of God: Who is blessed for ever. Amen. When
we see or hear of any contempt cast upon God or his name, we should
thence take occasion to think and speak highly and honourably of
him. In this, as in other things, the worse others are, the better
we should be. Blessed for ever, notwithstanding these
dishonours done to his name: though there are those that do not
glorify him, yet he is glorified, and will be glorified to
eternity.

III. The judgments of God upon them for
this idolatry; not many temporal judgments (the idolatrous nations
were the conquering ruling nations of the world), but spiritual
judgments, giving them up to the most brutish and unnatural lusts.
Paredoken autous—He gave them up; it is
thrice repeated here, v.
24, 26, 28. Spiritual judgments are of all judgments the
sorest, and to be most dreaded. Observe,

1. By whom they were given up. God gave
them up, in a way of righteous judgment, as the just punishment of
their idolatry—taking off the bridle of restraining grace—leaving
them to themselves—letting them alone; for his grace is his own,
he is debtor to no man, he may give or withhold his grace at
pleasure. Whether this giving up be a positive act of God or only
privative we leave to the schools to dispute: but this we are sure
of that it is no new thing for God to give men up to their own
hearts' lusts, to send them strong delusions, to let Satan loose
upon them, nay, to lay stumbling-blocks before them. And yet God is
not the author of sin, but herein infinitely just and holy; for,
though the greatest wickedness follow upon this giving up, the
fault of that is to be laid upon the sinner's wicked heart. If the
patient be obstinate, and will not submit to the methods
prescribed, but wilfully takes and does that which is prejudicial
to him, the physician is not to be blamed if he give him up as in a
desperate condition; and all the fatal symptoms that follow are not
to be imputed to the physician, but to the disease itself and to
the folly and wilfulness of the patient.

2. To what they were given up.

(1.) To uncleanness and vile
affections, v. 24, 26,
27. Those that would not entertain the more pure and
refined notices of natural light, which tend to preserve the honour
of God, justly forfeited those more gross and palpable sentiments
which preserve the honour of human nature. Man being in
honour, and refusing to understand the God that made him, thus
becomes worse than the beasts that perish, Ps. xlix. 20. Thus one, by the divine
permission, becomes the punishment of another; but it is (as it
said here) through the lusts of their own hearts—there all
the fault is to be laid. Those who dishonoured God were given up to
dishonour themselves. A man cannot be delivered up to a greater
slavery than to be given up to his own lusts. Such are given over,
like the Egyptians (Isa. xix.
4), into the hand of a cruel lord. The particular
instances of their uncleanness and vile affections are their
unnatural lusts, for which many of the heathen, even of those among
them who passed for wisemen, as Solon and Zeno, were infamous,
against the plainest and most obvious dictates of natural light.
The crying iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah, for which God rained
hell from heaven upon them, became not only commonly practised, but
avowed, in the pagan nations. Perhaps the apostle especially refers
to the abominations that were committed in the worship of their
idol-gods, in which the worst of uncleannesses were prescribed for
the honour of their gods; dunghill service for dunghill gods: the
unclean spirits delight in such ministrations. In the church of
Rome, where the pagan idolatries are revived, images worshipped,
and saints only substituted in the room of demons, we hear of these
same abominations going barefaced, licensed by the pope (Fox's
Acts and Monuments, vol. 1, p. 808), and not only commonly
perpetrated, but justified and pleaded for by some of their
cardinals: the same spiritual plagues for the same spiritual
wickednesses. See what wickedness there is in the nature of man.
How abominable and filthy is man! Lord, what is man? says
David; what a vile creature is he when left to himself! How much
are we beholden to the restraining grace of God for the preserving
any thing of the honour and decency of the human nature! For, were
it not for this, man, who was made but little lower than the
angels, would make himself a great deal lower than the devils. This
is said to be that recompence of their error which was meet.
The Judge of all the earth does right, and observes a meetness
between the sin and the punishment of it.

[1.] They did not like to retain God in
their knowledge. The blindness of their understandings was
caused by the wilful aversion of their wills and affections. They
did not retain God in their knowledge, because they did not like
it. They would neither know nor do any thing but just what pleased
themselves. It is just the temper of carnal hearts; the pleasing of
themselves is their highest end. There are many that have God in
their knowledge, they cannot help it, the light shines so fully in
their faces; but they do not retain him there. They say to the
Almighty, Depart (Job xxi.
14), and they therefore do not retain God in their
knowledge because it thwarts and contradicts their lusts; they do
not like it. In their knowledge—en epignosei. There
is a difference between gnosis and
epignosis, the knowledge and the
acknowledgement of God; the pagans knew God, but did not,
would not, acknowledge him.

[2.] Answerable to this wilfulness of
theirs, in gainsaying the truth, God gave them over to a wilfulness
in the grossest sins, here called a reprobate
mind—eis adokimon noun, a mind void of all sense
and judgment to discern things that differ, so that they could not
distinguish their right hand from their left in spiritual things.
See whither a course of sin leads, and into what a gulf it plunges
the sinner at last; hither fleshly lusts have a direct tendency.
Eyes full of adultery cannot cease from sin, 2 Pet. ii. 14. This reprobate mind
was a blind scared conscience, past feeling, Eph. iv. 19. When the judgment is once
reconciled to sin, the man is in the suburbs of hell. At first
Pharaoh hardened his heart, but afterwards God hardened Pharaoh's
heart. Thus wilful hardness is justly punished with judicial
hardness.—To do those things which are not convenient. This
phrase may seem to bespeak a diminutive evil, but here it is
expressive of the grossest enormities; things that are not
agreeable to men, but contradict the very light and law of nature.
And here he subjoins a black list of those unbecoming things which
the Gentiles were guilty of, being delivered up to a reprobate
mind. No wickedness so heinous, so contrary to the light of nature,
to the law of nations, and to all the interests of mankind, but a
reprobate mind will comply with it. By the histories of those
times, especially the accounts we have of the then prevailing
dispositions and practices of the Romans when the ancient virtue of
that commonwealth was so degenerated, it appears that these sins
here mentioned were then and there reigning national sins. No fewer
than twenty-three several sorts of sins and sinners are here
specified, v.
29-31. Here the devil's seat is; his name is legion, for
they are many. It was time to have the gospel preached among them,
for the world had need of reformation.

First, Sins against the first table:
Haters of God. Here is the devil in his own colours, sin
appearing sin. Could it be imagined that rational creatures should
hate the chief good, and depending creatures abhor the fountain of
their being? And yet so it is. Every sin has in it a hatred of God;
but some sinners are more open and avowed enemies to him than
others, Zech. xi. 8.
Proud men and boasters cope with God himself, and put those
crowns upon their own heads which must be cast before his
throne.

Secondly, Sins against the second
table. These are especially mentioned, because in these things they
had a clearer light. In general here is a charge of
unrighteousness. This is put first, for every sin is
unrighteousness; it is withholding that which is due, perverting
that which is right; it is especially put for second-table sins,
doing as we would not be done by. Against the fifth commandment:
Disobedient to parents, and without natural
affection—astorgous, that is parents unkind and
cruel to their children. Thus, when duty fails on one side, it
commonly fails on the other. Disobedient children are justly
punished with unnatural parents; and, on the contrary, unnatural
parents with disobedient children. Against the sixth commandment:
Wickedness (doing mischief for mischief's sake),
maliciousness, envy, murder, debate
(eridos—contention), malignity,
despiteful, implacable, unmerciful; all expressions of that
hatred of our brother which is heart-murder. Against the seventh
commandment: Fornication; he mentions no more, having spoken
before of other uncleannesses. Against the eighth commandment:
Unrighteousness, covetousness. Against the ninth
commandment: Deceit, whisperers, back-biters,
covenant-breakers, lying and slandering. Here are two generals
not before mentioned—inventors of evil things, and without
understanding; wise to do evil, and yet having no knowledge to
do good. The more deliberate and politic sinners are in inventing
evil things, the greater is their sin: so quick of invention in
sin, and yet without understanding (stark fools) in the thoughts of
God. Here is enough to humble us all, in the sense of our original
corruption; for every heart by nature has in it the seed and spawn
of all these sins. In the close he mentions the aggravations of the
sins, v. 32. 1. They
knew the judgment of God; that is, (1.) They knew the law.
The judgment of God is that which his justice requires, which,
because he is just, he judgeth meet to be done. (2.) They knew the
penalty; so it is explained here: They knew that those who
commit such things were worthy of death, eternal death; their
own consciences could not but suggest this to them, and yet they
ventured upon it. It is a great aggravation of sin when it is
committed against knowledge (James iv.
17), especially against the knowledge of the judgment of
God. It is daring presumption to run upon the sword's point. It
argues the heart much hardened, and very resolutely set upon sin.
2. They not only do the same, but have pleasure in those that do
them. The violence of some present temptation may hurry a man
into the commission of such sins himself in which the vitiated
appetite may take a pleasure; but to be pleased with other people's
sins is to love sin for sin's sake: it is joining in a confederacy
for the devil's kingdom and interest. Syneudokousi:
they do not only commit sin, but they defend and justify it, and
encourage others to do the like. Our own sins are much aggravated
by our concurrence with, and complacency in, the sins of
others.

Now lay all this together, and then say
whether the Gentile world, lying under so much guilt and
corruption, could be justified before God by any works of their
own.